Sunday, October 23, 2016

Whiteness in Libraries

Whiteness in US
Libraries

[Note--this is a blog post. These ideas can and will be further developed. These ideas are sketches of what I am thinking at the moment. Feedback is encouraged and welcome.]

US
schools and libraries serve as points of diffusion for Whiteness. Whiteness, as used in this post is defined as the concept that European people and European culture are more important than other people and other cultures.

Whiteness is purveyed uncritically in libraries. This shucking of Whiteness is done under the guise of objectivity, of adhering the the 'marketplace' of ideas. But this so-called neutrality is really an adherence and capitulation to the Whiteness paradigm.

Children
of color hear the message of Whiteness--"European people and European
culture are more important than other people and other cultures.

Children of color live in a world of discrimination and bias in US schools.

Some think US culture is not European.But US culture is derived from
European culture and is fundamentally White-supremacist.

I
don't say this lightly. Whiteness is embedded in our culture. From the shapes of the buildings, to the hierarchies of the library staff and administration. This is especially true in the American Library world.Ethnic categories, demeaning classifications, cataloging systems with names like the Anglo American Cataloging Rules, and staff who (too often) don't look like the people who live in the neighborhood. Microagressions, discrimination, hiring bias and collections centered around Whiteness all are outcomes of the ubiquitousness of this paradigm in our libraries.

Many
people will now be thinking that I am saying all White people are racist, or
that all White people are bad, or some such nonsense. That is not what
I intend to say.I'm saying that the idea of Whiteness, as defined above, is what our
country was founded upon.

European immigrants live on stolen indigenous land.

These immigrants and their descendants committed genocide against Indigenous peoples
throughout the Americas.

The
wealth of the Americas, in large part, was created by slave labor. This slave
labor was both African and Indigenous.

Whiteness says that this is okay, that this is correct and that it is justified. Those who adhere to Whiteness also believe in these fundamental principles. Mostly, the information found in libraries says it is okay, natural and normal, or does not bother to address these issues...

Whiteness, brought from Europe has beenpart of US Educational system from the beginning.

Children
are inculcated with #Whiteness via books, lectures and the culture of US
schools.

Some
children become authors, scientists and other types of academics. They
produce information and knowledge in the form of books and other types of
media.

Racist mainstream 'Intellectual' book

The
knowledge, which too many authors, scientists and academics create is fundamentally flawed with Whiteness
embedded within. Even if the creators of this knowledge are
people of color. They are working with tainted information that has not been
fully analyzed from a cultural perspective. This lends itself to embedding
Whiteness in all new knowledge created from this information. This is
why we have seen no real advancements, even with the educated people of color.
They exist within and are heavily influenced by Whiteness. Libraries serve as key distribution points forculturally biased information.

One
example is historic documentationThomas Jefferson, as a land-owner and slaveholder, is understood to be a rapist. He took advantage of his position and raped his slaves, yet he is still hailed as a hero still. This is Whiteness.

Thomas Jefferson (Slave Rapist) bust in the Library of Congress

Technology in libraries needs to be reexamined with a critical eye. Embedded Whiteness prevails.Metadata, algorithms and other location tools are just as infected with Whiteness as the rest of the library world and largerAmerican Educational culture. This issueis particularly pertinent as we transition into a more digital information world.

These people are probably still in control of your library technology.

The
idea that White people, European Americans are more important, smarter, better,
stronger, more worthy, and that their culture is superior is embedded in most
of the books in US libraries. People check out these books and are then
influenced by these books. And since most of these books have the message of Whiteness uncritically embedded in them, the reader is most often influenced by Whiteness without giving it the critical eye it deserves.

This
is how libraries serve as points of diffusion for Whiteness paradigm.

6 comments:

Thank you for another great post Max. I always think of the Dewey Decimal System when examining embedded white supremacist ideology in libraries, as well as heteronormativity/patriarchy/orientalism, etc.

Yes! You're going to like my next American Libraries column (or, well, the January/February 17 column which I just turned in to my editor last week). It is about critical librarianship, the toxic consequences of neutrality, and bias in search algorithms.

Max, I am prefacing this comment by stating I am not White just so you can see where I'm coming from on this and how it might color my reading of your post. I sometimes feel the term Whiteness and White are becoming pejoratives when the reality is we have systems of imperialism found worldwide. I think you hit the nail on the head when you point out systems of acceptance of knowledge that look on information gains from the Other as tainted until proven worthy - often disdain. I use the term Other as a synonym for Colonized as Mary Louise Pratt defines the term in her book Imperial Eyes. I have run into this when I have gone to the doctor in the US and state I went to the Chinese doctor while I lived in China only to receive a curt answer of "Well, we still think this is unproven." There goes my culture's 5000 years of history. Lol At the same time I have seen similar reactions while in China when I say something about medicine, science, or or even library science. The majority is always looking to retain its power hold on knowledge.

This is amazing! Thank you for this. I would be very interested in talking with you further and if you are interested, teasing it out. There is a group of Librarians on FB that are working on the integration of Trauma Informed Services in the Library that I would like to invite you to join. Your input would be appreciated! Thank you!! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1775447376011577/